Nautical Themed Tape Mani

Hello :) How's everything in your neck of the woods?  Hope all is well, if not, I hope this Nautical-ish mani will help you out.  


My inspiration was drawn from a very talented woman over at Nailside.  She posted this gorgeous mani.  And when I saw it I thought nautical immediately.  Nautical could be red/coral & not just navy & white no?  Ah well, it is now :) I loved the gold in hers & decided to utilize it in mine, but I changed the base color to Essie's ~ California Coral...

Here's my take

4 fingers for ya

The obligatory closeup

What I did:  I did 2 coats of MAC ~ Immortal Gold (probably should have gone with the California Coral first - but hindsight is 20/20 ;).  After topping it off with a nice coat of Seche Vite I then went my usual route of cutting strips of scotch tape to size & placing them accordingly where I wanted the gold to show through.  I then removed the tape after the California Coral was applied.  A few take-aways from this mani. #1 - Definitely going with the California Coral FIRST, I had to apply such a thick coat in order for the gold to not darken the red & had to work fast so it didn't become goopey & in the process ended up missing some of the gold towards the cuticle (see last pic).  #2 - Since the coat was so thick I had a bit of an issue removing the tape - I was sooooo worried it's screw up my lines, but luckily there were only a few thin strings that pulled from the Coral unto the gold.  #3 - Thick coat = A RIDICULOUS AMOUNT OF DRYING TIME before I could even think about applying another round of top coat. Boo with a side of Face Palm.  Never again, lesson learned, note taken.  Besides all of that I was extremely pleased with this mani, just when I think about throwing in the towel & just ordering striping tape I feel I keep getting better at cutting the strips :) Go me!  I'm really loving tape manis & again, possibilities are endless. What do you think?

Solid Goooooooooold

Hello... I'm baaaaack & a lot quicker than you expected I'm sure :) This evening I'm going to post 2 separate "reviews".  Lucky you!  As I mentioned in a previous post I am really finding it harder & harder to just stick with a flat color.  I need a little bit o' JAZZ!  So I decided to just play with an accent nail in Solid Gold... I give you... China Glaze ~ Dance Baby (from their Electropop Spring '12 Collection) & a gold accent from MAC ~ Immortal Gold.  Let's sheck it out.

Super cute!!!

So girly <3

Close up!

First off - I love, love, love this pink!  Dance Baby is such a girly pink.  I felt like Barbie!  It looks great on it's own, offered a perfect pop of color.  Not too bright, not too subtle, just perfect.  This is 3 coats, for this mani I decided to just hit up the accent nail with some scotch tape strips I cut & topped that off with MAC ~ Immortal Gold.  As you can see, I didn't wait until it completely dried (BOOOOO ATHENA BOOOO) before I applied my Seche Vite top coat, which caused some unfortunately streaking ::tear:: BUT I learned my lesson & will be sure to let the color dry before I apply top coat.  Initially I thought I'd be crappy at doing tape manis, but find I am getting better at them the more I try.  Practice makes perfect!  I got the China Glaze at good ol' Sally's Beauty supply & have had the MAC one for a bit & can't remember how much I paid for it.  Hope you enjoyed!

Read Between The Lines - Tape Mani inspired by Enamel Girl

Hellooooooo everybody!!!  How are you?  I am... EXHAUSTED... we had such a busy weekend & I feel like we never stopped moving.  I paid for it today at work by practically drooling all over my desk.  LOL 


During my busy weekend I somehow managed to find a minute or 2 (or more) to attempt a mani I saw from Enamel Girl.  I saw it on Pinterest & wanted to try it immediately.  I headed to Sally's to look for a perfect pink - or at least one close to it in order to do it.  Luckily I already had my perfect yellow courtesy of Zoya ~ Pippa.  While at Sally's I picked up another bottle of Seche Vite (can you really ever have too many bottles LOL) & managed to save $1 w/ a coupon.  Not a huge victory, but a victory none the less =) & I scooped up China Glaze ~ Love's A Beach (part of their Summer Neons Collection for 2012).  You can check out Enamel Girl's AHHHMAZING tape mani using the above link & here is my attempt:

Bottle Shot!!

My attempt close up

Sheck out my thumb...

Close up of my favorite finger (I think cause it looks like an "A")

How I did it --> Did my base colors (the base color comes out in the color of the lines), then I cut thin strips of scotch tape & placed them on my nail (after a nice thick coat of Poshe), once attached securely I put the contrasting color & removed the strips of tape as soon as I finished the top color.  Waited a bit & then topped all fingers off with a coat of Gelous followed soon after by Seche Vite.  Whew... 3 fingers in (pinky, ring & middle) I realized i should have attempted my own design - but I was so friggin' nervous to mess it up I copied Enamel Girl verbatim LOL, but I did do the thumb on my own as well as my index finger.  But once I saw the pictures above i realized the pinky & index are exactly the same just different direction ::insert face palm::.  Ah well, next time.  So what do you think?  I think I did it justice.  I see myself attempting this mani over & over.  The possibilities are ENDLESS.  Hope you enjoyed!!!